March 28, 2024

Learning to abide

Editor’s Note: This column originally published Feb. 23, 2015. Cardinal Lanes is scheduled to close on Friday.

Last week my sports editor walked into my office and told me I need to step up my bowling game.

While it would not take a sports expert to draw this conclusion, she had taken note of my embarrassing scores while preparing the bowling league results for publication.

While it was pointed out with a smile and a laugh, by all accounts she is right, I do in fact need to step up my game.

The thing is sometimes I have talent. That’s true of all of us on Team Abide — which includes my husband and another couple who reeled us in after participating in two other seasons of league bowling.

Our team name is derived from “The Big Lebowski,” a comedy starring Jeff Bridges, John Goodman and Steve Buscemi. The three make for an interesting bowling team to say the least, and there are dozens of memorable quotes from the film — one being, “the Dude abides.” Thus, we try to abide.

But two months into playing league bowling, I can confidently say I don’t have what it takes. It’s a game of highs and lows, so one frame I’m bowling a strike and the next is a gutter ball. I’m entirely too dramatic about it too, often stating my frustration after each roll.

To be honest, I have no idea what I'm doing except trying to have fun — isn't that the key to most sports? Yet, my definition of fun means I must break 100 and/or beat my husband, otherwise I'm just mad.

I’ve always been an average bowler that sometimes finds luck.

One of my favorite dating stories stems from college when my date suggested we spend the night bowling. I dominated, making several strikes and spares and ultimately beat him in every game. He never called for another date, and it was definitely because he was a sore loser.

I’ve kind of developed a similar attitude, although not to that pathetic extreme.

If you take a look around Cardinal Lanes on a Friday night there are many skilled players, some I would describe as masters of the game.

I just try to throw the ball down the lane and hit the middle of the pins. That’s honestly my strategy. Sometimes it even works. (I’m basically priding myself on having not thrown my ball backward into my teammates at this point.)

There is definitely no shortage of advice when it comes to the game of bowling. I’ve been told to let the ball do the work, relax, be the ball (whatever that means) among many other suggestions such as where to stand, how to approach and throwing technique.

As a team we’ve spent a lot of time talking strategy and we’ve taken several different approaches to bowl successfully — it’s a balance of using the right ball, the dryness in your hand, how many pitchers of beer are consumed and energy level.

If you have another obligation on a Friday you’re required to pre-bowl and that’s where I can really struggle. Trying to fit three games of bowling into a lunch hour created the embarrassing results of last week. By game three I was exhausted, and even panting at one point.

There’s no doubt bowling is a chore.

The positives for me include being active during the winter, meeting new people, spending time with our good friends — and acquiring bowling shoes. I’d always wanted some.

So if I can stay focused on those things I think I can abide, and maybe I’ll even improve my game.

Contact Abigail Pelzer
at 641-792-3121 ext. 6530
or apelzer@newtondailynews.com